Appellate Practice

Lawyer sells secret SCOTUS style manual for $29.95

A lawyer with the Federal Trade Commission who made a copy of the U.S. Supreme Court’s private style manual is selling the publication online for $29.95. The manual is intended as an internal document for law clerks and justices, according to the National Law Journal’s Supreme Court Brief (sub. req.).…

Apr 1, 2016 5:45 AM CDT

Man convicted in 1957 child-slaying is innocent, top prosecutor says; 3 new lawyers are now on case

Initially rejecting an unusual request by a suburban Chicago prosecutor, an Illinois judge has declined to release a man who was convicted of a 1957 child-murder decades after the crime was committed. However, Judge William Brady appointed new counsel on Wednesday to represent Jack McCullough in post-conviction matters because of…

Mar 31, 2016 2:55 PM CDT

Obama grants more clemency petitions, cuts prison sentences for 61 offenders

President Barack Obama on Wednesday granted the clemency petitions of 61 federal prisoners, reducing their sentences and providing for them to be freed later this year. Approximately a third of those whose sentences were commuted have been serving life terms. The petitioners are not considered violent, although a few have…

Mar 30, 2016 1:00 PM CDT

Prison a ‘blessing in disguise’ for jailhouse lawyer who got a new trial and a paralegal job

After years of insisting that he did not commit the carjackings and armed robberies for which he was originally sentenced a decade ago, a Flint, Michigan, man was set free on Monday—at least for now. A federal judge in Detroit ordered that Omar Rashad Pouncy, 28, be released on a…

Mar 29, 2016 12:20 PM CDT

Lawyer who filed late appeal showed ‘obstinate incompetence,’ Kozinski says

A well-known federal appeals judge is criticizing a criminal defense lawyer for “obstinate incompetence” in his representation of a murder defendant on appeal. Judge Alex Kozinski criticized lawyer Gregory Mitts while concurring in a decision (PDF) to give Mitts’ client a chance to show he was entitled to pursue a…

Mar 29, 2016 11:00 AM CDT

Convicted of murder despite out-of-state vacation alibi, man is freed on DA’s motion after 20 years

A New York City man was freed from prison Wednesday, at the request of the Bronx district attorney’s office, after serving 20 years for a murder he says he didn’t commit. The DA’s office agreed to a new trial for Richard Rosario, who identified more than a dozen alibi witnesses…

Mar 23, 2016 12:35 PM CDT

With latest $22K sanction, attorney’s total for case tops $166K

A Chicago lawyer was ordered to pay $22,864 to a litigation opponent last week for pursuing a frivolous appeal. The sanction was not the first regarding attorney Dennis James Stolfo’s handling of a retaliatory discharge and defamation suit against Kindercare Learning Centers Inc. Including the latest $22,864, Stolfo has been…

Mar 21, 2016 1:55 PM CDT

ABA urges California governor to grant ‘executive reprieve’ to convicted murderer

Supporting a clemency petition for a man convicted of murdering a California couple, one of their children and a visiting child in 1983, the president of the American Bar Association is urging the state’s governor to grant an “executive reprieve” until his guilt or innocence can be determined. Although Kevin…

Mar 16, 2016 2:30 PM CDT

DA’s office disavows 19th conviction in ongoing probe of old convictions; ex-inmate served 25 years

Andre Hatchett was on crutches on Feb. 18, 1991, recovering from bullet wounds to his neck and trachea when Neda Mae Carter was found dead in New York City. Her body had been moved into a cross-like position, and a man said he had witnessed a portion of the crime…

Mar 10, 2016 4:30 PM CST

Federal appeals court partially blocks FCC rules cutting cost of prison phone calls

As a lawsuit continues seeking to overturn new Federal Communications Commission rules cutting the cost prisoners pay for phone calls, a federal appeals court has partially stayed the imposition of the new rules. The Hill provides a copy of the order (PDF) on Monday by the U.S. Court of Appeals…

Mar 7, 2016 4:50 PM CST

First-time offender blames lawyers for 33-year DUI term, but judge points to beer pong video

Lawyers for Kenneth Richard Jenkins had hoped for a four- to eight-year prison term in his driving-under-the-influence case because he was a first-time offender and expressed remorse for the accident he caused that killed three people. But a judge gave Jenkins nearly 33 years at his 2011 sentencing, unfavorably influenced…

Mar 7, 2016 4:10 PM CST

Supreme Court blocks enforcement of Louisiana abortion clinic restrictions

Last month, a federal appeals court in New Orleans refused to block a Louisiana law that could close three of the state’s four abortion clinics, staying an injunction issued by a trial court. But on Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court effectively reversed that 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling…

Mar 4, 2016 4:55 PM CST

South Africa’s top court ends Pistorius murder appeal; sentencing now looms

The top court in South Africa has denied Oscar Pistorius leave to appeal his murder conviction in the 2013 shooting death of his girlfriend, law graduate and model Reeva Steenkamp. A spokesman for the National Prosecuting Authority said the Constitutional Court made the ruling Thursday, finding the appeal had “no…

Mar 3, 2016 4:05 PM CST

5th Circuit mimics filing’s ‘strange hypothetical conversation’ in their ruling denying motion

Apparently hoping to tell a story that a federal appeals court would find compelling, a Texas lawyer opened his motion for a panel rehearing with a hypothetical talk between lawyer and client. “Sometimes, in deciding a case, the Court ought to put itself ‘into the shoes of the attorney’ before…

Mar 1, 2016 3:10 PM CST

Appeals court denies bid by Outlaws biker club for return of 3 forfeited leather vests

After more than a year of litigation, the Outlaws Motorcycle Club has again been rebuffed in its efforts to reclaim three black leather vests seized from members who were involved in a 2012 bar fight in Wonder Lake, Illinois. In particular, the patches on the vests are important to the…

Feb 25, 2016 1:30 PM CST